The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for retrieving a broadcast video or a video included in a data base, and in particular to a video retrieval method and apparatus capable of retrieving a video at high speed by using a feature of a video as a clue.
In multimedia information processing systems of recent years, it is possible to store various kinds of information such as videos and texts and display them to users. In case they are to be retrieved, however, there is no alternative but to retrieve them by using language such as keywords. In this case, work for providing keywords is required. The task of providing frames of a video with respective keywords requires much hard labor. Furthermore, since keywords are freely provided by the data base constructor, there is a problem that these keywords become useless in case the viewpoint of the user is different from that of the data base constructor. Furthermore, in case of videos, there is a need for retrieval based upon a feature of an image itself besides a keyword. Retrieval using a feature of an image as a clue needs a technique capable of quickly matching a feature of a video including an enormous number of frames with features of an enquiry video. Heretofore, there has never been a matching technique which can be applied to videos.
In conventional video retrieval, therefore, there is no practical means except a method in which the user checks and looks for a video with his eyes while reproducing videos together with functions of fast forward and rewind. Even if videos are digitized and stored to form a data base, therefore, efficient use is impossible. Furthermore, there exists no video retrieval system capable of catching a specific scene out of a video which is being broadcasted.